Every year 1000s of people come to the UK to learn or improve their English. This could be for any period of time, a year, or maybe just a couple of months in the summer. But however long you plan to stay in the UK will find a number of courses available to you offering a lot of choice.

Learning English in the UK - ESOL

ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) is an organisational body that provides courses that are recognised by employers and universities. As well as focussing on the languages, these courses also teach you about British culture and society.

ESOL courses run from the basic ‘Entry Level’ to ‘Level Three’. You can study at home in a ‘self-study’ course, or at a local college. Most ESOL language schools run classes during the day and evening, to suit you.

It may be that your level of English is already so good that you can enter this at level 3 or that you need to do a higher level course. You should contact the colleges or learning centres in your area, and ask them for their advice on your specific needs.

It may be that they advise you to do the First Certificate of English (FCE - a Cambridge ESOL qualification), or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam. These are for people who are already able to use English in everyday situations, both written and spoken, but want to take this to a more advanced level and gain a recognised qualification. These certificates will be helpful if you are planning to go to university or wish to develop your professional career in the UK.

Visit our “Find a…” section for more information.

 

Language Exchange

Language exchanges are an excellent way of developing your English skills in the UK, at the same time you will help others to learn your language, make new friends and discover more about each other’s cultures.

They work by putting you in an informal relaxed classroom environment with native speakers who wish to learn your language. The class is divided into 2 parts; one part is spent talking with each other in your native tongue and the other half in theirs.

But this is not just a random chat about whatever happens to enter into your head at the time. A qualified instructor should design the class so that you cover specific topics within structured lesson plans, making sure that you really develop your language skills.

See our Language exchange section for more details

Other places to learn

If you want to improve your English while you travel or if you are planning to stay in a more rural part of the country and are worried about finding a course near you, try one of the many advertised language courses. Many of these advertise on the television or in magazines, you can just go to your local bookshop, where you will find all sorts of courses which include books, CD-ROMs and DVDs, which means that you can study whilst your are on the move.

Thanks to the internet, there are also many free resources. If you want to improve your English, you could visit the British Council website – this has some helpful articles for learning a higher standard of English for academics and professionals. Or if you want to learn a new language, you could try BBC’s online pages. They have an amazing amount of reading, writing and listening activities in various languages that you might be interested in, all free of charge.

 

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USEFUL WORDS

intensive course = a full-time course usually of at least 6 hours study per day
full / part-time
evening / weekend course
timetable

Types of Course

General English
Executive English = Business English
English for Academic Purposes (EAP) = English which prepares you for studying at a UK mainstream school or university
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) = English for medicine, law, pilots, banking etc.
conversation course = focussing on speaking skills
pronunciation course
1-1 / private / individual tuition = 1 teacher and 1 student rather than a group

Examination Courses

First Certificate in English (FCE) = a general English exam at Upper-Intermediate level
Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) = a general English exam at Advanced level
Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) = a general English exam at post-advanced level
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) = an academic exam required for entry into UK universities
Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC) = a business-focussed exam at Intemediate+ level
Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) = an academic exam required for entry into US universities

GRAMMAR SPOT

Information, news etc.

It is not always clear from the meaning whether a noun is countable or uncountable.  For example information, news and furniture are uncountable:

I've found out some information on the courses for you (NOT an information)
There was no news on the exam date (NOT there were no news)
There was very little furniture in the students room (NOT very few furniture)

But we can often use piece(s) of, bit(s) of and item(s) of with such nouns:

I've found out a piece of information for you
There were very few items of furniture

Other common nouns which are uncountable:

accommodation, advice, clothing, equipment, English, homework, luck, permission, research, traffic, work